The New York Times reports:

Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, but the company has long expressed a desire to enter the Chinese market.

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, recently gave a dramatic display of his interest in the country, speaking in Chinese for about a half-hour at a forum at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He discussed his thoughts on innovation in China, Facebook’s future in the country and why he is studying Chinese. His Mandarin is far from perfect, but his first few words were received with cheers and applause by the assembled students and faculty members. “Hello everyone. Thanks for coming,” he told the group. “I’m very glad to be in Beijing. I love this city. My Chinese is really a mess, but I study using Chinese every day.” “Perhaps I need practice,” he added, to laughter from the group. Mr. Zuckerberg joined the advisory council of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management this week, and his talk was with students and faculty of the school. 

Asked why he studied the language, Mr. Zuckerberg said his wife Priscilla Chan’s family members speak Chinese. Her grandmother was “very shocked,” he said, when he told her in Chinese that he and Ms. Chan planned to marry.

To read more of the New York Times article and to see Mark Zuckerberg speaking Chinese, click here.

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